First gaming pc build

Hello, this will be the first pc that I will make myself it will be used mainly for gaming (bf4/bf3/farcry/upcomming GTA V/crysis3) on a 1680x1050 monitor, in the past two weeks I have been looking around for pc parts. I think I have come up with 2 builds that are pretty good. Since my experience in pc building is very limited I would like to have some input from the pro's around here!

My initial budget was about €700,-. I already have 2 500 GB HDD's from my old pc and 1TB is enough for me. I have chosen a couple of parts and went over it with €12,86 so I got pretty close. The builds is as following:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ssZqP6 (GPU wasn't available on the partpicker site)

I also made a second build with a better CPU and GPU. I was wondering if it was worth investing in these two price wise. I have to upgrade my pc later when choosing the 2nd build but parts get cheaper over the months. Concluding am I in the end cheaper off getting the first build and upgrading faster or am I better off getting the 2nd build and upgrading later.
2nd build €846,16
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mq4923

I chose for an aftermarket CPU-cooler for 2 reasons; 1. Less noise than the stock cooler. 2. I might overclock my CPU a bit (nothing too extreme). The SSD is for windows 8.1 and programs I will commonly use, the old HDD's will be used for media and such. I wanted the pc to look good too so the parts are all blue/black/white, with the exception of the GPU which is red on the bottom which won't really show.

Any suggestions/comments are welcome!

I would go nothing less than a r9 280x assuming 1080p gaming.

That board is 6+2(+2) power phases so it should do ok with the hex and overclocking, not so sure on the 8350 and overclocking...

I like a combo of the first and second builds...basically, build the first but just add the 280x instead of the lower end GPU.

Thanks for the quick reply, I have a 1680x1050 monitor resolution, will update the first post

I still wouldn't go less than a 280x...

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2XyLFT

Gets you a better motherboard power section, better GPU, and better PSU. Still on your original budget though

ATMINSIDE said:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2XyLFT

Gets you a better motherboard power section, better GPU, and better PSU. Still on your original budget though

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I agree!

ATMINSIDE said:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2XyLFT

Gets you a better motherboard power section, better GPU, and better PSU. Still on your original budget though

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, I have a few questions however, as I stated earlier I'm still fairly inexperienced and would like to get a bit more familiar with it. That's why I would like to know a couple of things. Why is the Gigabyte motherboard better than the Asus one, does this have to do with VRM? 2nd, is the MSI R9 280x better than the xfx one? Most reviews I have read so far say they are about the same performance wise then conclude the MSI GPU is more silent and cheaper and therefore better. Last, is seasonic just better than corsair in making PSU's? Or are there any specs that made you come tot that choice?.
BTW I kept the RAM I chose, in the USA the one you chose is cheaper but in the Netherlands the retailers are selling it for a higher price than the one I chose

Yes, the VRM section on the Gigabyte is better.

The XFX 280X will outperform the MSI 270X Hawk by a decent margin, and is cheaper than the MSI 280X you had picked.
Also, that XFX model I picked has a lifetime warranty.

The Seasonic PSU simply uses better components than that CS550M.

The timings on that Kingston you picked are terrible in comparison to the G.SKILL set.

Oh I see, the one they were testing in the review was the black edition not the double dissipation. The timings are the CAS latency right? Thanks again for the usefull replies!

MajorTemples said:

Oh I see, the one they were testing in the review was the black edition not the double dissipation. The timings are the CAS latency right? Thanks again for the usefull replies!

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CAS latency is one timing, yes. There are multiple other timings.

Stick to an 1866 or 2133MHz CAS 9 set, that's your sweet-spot.

A 270x will max anything on that monitor, I would get a 270x, better motherboard and an 8320 and overclock it....


...then again II'm biased haha


Save some money for a better monitor, you can 1080p game with that setup, and later work into a better gpu.

Edit: ATMs build will last you a long time if you went that route.

ATMINSIDE said:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2XyLFT

Gets you a better motherboard power section, better GPU, and better PSU. Still on your original budget though

Click to expand...

but get the FX-8320 instead; for 40$ it's worth the ability to crack up that CPU even if it's just a simple 10%.

bob4933 said:

A 270x will max anything on that monitor, I would get a 270x, better motherboard and an 8320 and overclock it....


...then again II'm biased haha


Save some money for a better monitor, you can 1080p game with that setup, and later work into a better gpu.

Edit: ATMs build will last you a long time if you went that route.

Click to expand...

The 270X chokes on AAA titles at Ultra settings on 1080p. 1050p is barely smaller in terms of render size.

You won't get 60FPS on ultra in the next wave of big titles.

dtrunk said:

but get the FX-8320 instead; for 40$ it's worth the ability to crack up that CPU even if it's just a simple 10%.

Click to expand...

No need for gaming.

ATMINSIDE said:

The 270X chokes on AAA titles at Ultra settings on 1080p. 1050p is barely smaller in terms of render size.

You won't get 60FPS on ultra in the next wave of big titles.

Click to expand...

I haven't had any issues on any game personally. I can see the limitations though. Obviously I don't get 60fps on every game, but every game is well north of the "playable" region.

It's a gaming build, get the 280x. CPU isn't nearly as important as the GPU.
Moving to a 280x will give you on average a 25% increase in FPS.
A 10% OC on that CPU might give you 1-2% increase in FPS.

It's a gaming build, get the 280x.

bob4933 said:

I haven't had any issues on any game personally. I can see the limitations though. Obviously I don't get 60fps on every game, but every game is well north of the "playable" region.

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And we're looking at a new build here. What is "playable" today won't be acceptable in a year (maybe even 6 months).

Even at 1680x1050, I would also rock a 280x. Remember my motto though 'get the best you can afford'.

ATMINSIDE said:

And we're looking at a new build here. What is "playable" today won't be acceptable in a year (maybe even 6 months).

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And what runs 4 cores today may be better optimized for 8 cores (jaguar platform anyone?) In a year.

Any way to stretch him into an 8320 and make everyone happy?

bob4933 said:

And what runs 4 cores today may be better optimized for 8 cores (jaguar platform anyone?) In a year.

Any way to stretch him into an 8320 and make everyone happy?

Click to expand...

If they start optimizing for more than 4 cores any time soon it'll cripple i5 machines.
Game makers won't do that without the architecture changing more drastically

That also puts him outside the comfortable budget.

ATMINSIDE said:

If they start optimizing for more than 4 cores any time soon it'll cripple i5 machines.
Game makers won't do that without the architecture changing more drastically

That also puts him outside the comfortable budget.

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I'm going to start a new thread for that discussion actually.

As far as budget, Im unsure about taxes where he lives, so it may or may not be out of budget. 1200USD should still go pretty far...